yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
I would let it go, 5.2.6.2 runs absolutely stable and according to Amazon's changelog all newer versions contain only unknown bug fixes (Amazon doesn't even dare to write which alleged bugs it should be). Even the newly introduced ADB approval of 5.2.6.6 really doesn't need anyone on his Fire TV. I strongly suspect that Amazon is only trying to introduce more mechanisms against unauthorized apps on its older devices, as these are still widely used. So I leave my hands off and stay on 5.2.6.2.
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
that's odd... did you catch anything interesting in dmesg ?
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
It depends on your usecase whether the few recent updates

are necessary for anyone or not. According to aftvnews the last update 5.2.6.7 added a lot of small improvements and alexa support got better since 5.2.6.2 as far as I remember. Also the ADB approval is kind of mandatory, as it is a major security fix, which is very critical: https://www.engadget.com/2018/06/12/android-malware-infecting-amazon-fire-tvs-sticks/?guccounter=1

So I would not generalize your opinion for everybody.

[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION] Is it possible that you share the recent 5.2.6.7 as a prerooted rom? I would like to test it myself and play around with it. So far I haven't really been affected by the bugs that all the people report... seems that my setup does not use the buggy parts, so that these bugs don't bother me. The only bug that I have since over a year, which drives me crazy, is a sporadic judder that I have in Amazon prime video which appears every some seconds and sometimes just every 5 minutes, thus a judder appears of a duration of ~5 to 10 seconds as if it is a slowmotion shot. I am quite sure that this is some incompatibility with my philips TV since a Fire OS 5.2.4.x or so... I guess amazon changed the kernel or so resulting in refreshrate sync probs to my tv somehow.

Anyways... I'd like to update to prerooted 5.2.6.7 if possible :)
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
But you already know that Alexa "lives" in the cloud and doesn't care what firmware you have on your Fire TV, do you?

And how often is your WLAN hijacked every day and hackers try to connect to your Fire TV via ADB? Or are you sitting with the device in some shady internet cafes and afraid of unauthorized access? ;)

Sorry for my inappropriate comment!
[Fire TV Android Development] chris-89:
If you want to try the 5.2.6.7 firmware without loosing root, then follow the guide from user XDA_h3n on page 40.

I didn't try it by myself, but at the moment i will stay on 5.2.6.6.
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
Presuming not much changed between .6 and .7, one can find what files have changed between the two versions, remount root partition with RW and copy new files over, minding permissions. Taking TWRP backup first is a good idea.

[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION] - could you post zip for .7 - I can give it a try too?
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
For an alleged update with only performance improvements and bug fixes there are many completely new apks! That's very dubious, I'll have a look at them...

Update:

Here is a very quick and probably imprecise analysis of the new apps! If someone would like to invest more time, please add or correct...

Not suspicious:

com.amazon.aca.apk	--> Appstore Alexa Android Client

com.amazon.providers.tv.apk	--> Fire TV Provider

com.amazon.tv.routing.apk	--> FTV Routing

com.amazon.franktvinput.apk	--> Fire TV Recast

com.amazon.alexa.externalmediaplayer.fireos.apk	--> Media Player/Alexa

com.amazon.net.smartconnect.apk	--> Network Helper

com.amazon.aria.apk	--> Gloria: ExoPlayer/Alexa

com.amazon.gloria.graphiq.apk	--> Gloria: Chart Viewer

Suspicious:

com.amazon.hedwig.apk	--> Hedwg: Could be another blacklisting component, because it uses permission amazon.permission.BLACKLISTED_IN_APPS_SETTINGS

com.amazon.katoch.apk	--> Katoch: One Receiver, opens a port and it listens "home"...

com.amazon.naatyam.apk	--> Naatyam: One Content Provider Client

Let's say if these apps are all harmless, why doesn't Amazon mention them as new features?
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
Yes indeed I know how alexa works, but sorry I assume that you've never used alexa controlling and Fire TV remote controlling through an echo dot in combination with your Fire TV, so my conclusion would be that you do not know that the alexa user experience on FireTV indeed relies on the firmware on the FireTV. It is not possible to control the fire TV via Alexa with 5.2.4.2 as far as I remember, so I do not really know how this discussion could be anyhow constructive.

It is an amazon device and it adds (convenience) features and service updates from time to time. If you search for suspicious and non-suspicious genuine amazon apks on the device and also downplay the threat of a security bug like the general ADB issue of android OS at the same time, that that does not make any sense for me, but more or less sounds like you try to construct some kind of reasons for avoiding software updates that do not make much sense in a rational way. This is an amazon device and its purpose is that you kind of accept the included services (apk's) that come from amazon so that the product experience works the way amazon intends it to do, on the other hand I totally don't persuade you updating it since it works good for you and your usecase. Obviously some of us still want root for reasons like additional features (ntfs, additinal keymappings for launching apps via keypresses), though that does not mean that one must tolerate security flaws like the one from adb (no matter how one uses his device, and no: I do not use it out of my house or in shady places for shady stuff, but still would like to have it safe, as it is connected to the internet with various APIs and services thus making it always potentially vulnerable).

I mean... no offense taken, but there's mostly reasons for updating a device, especially nowadays and there is not much or not at all any sense in keeping security issues unresolved.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
You've won!
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
I doubt they are too concerned about bunch of nerds with rooted ftv to bother adding some tracking/blocking stuff in. after all u can't get aft2 anymore and even if you do, it'd be running unrootable version anyway at this point.

has anything else changed besides those apk in /system? (sorry too lazy to download and diff it myself :) )
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
I don't think there are so few of them, because Amazon has proven to introduce further restrictions with each firmware of such unwanted apps. They wouldn't do that just because of a handful of users...

Yes, it has changed even more, list is coming...
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
I must have missed that then. You can side load any app on un-rooted FTV... In fact, it became better nowdays as before they would not show side loadded apps on your home screen dash. Yes, it asks for your permission and confirmation, but that are rather security measures (which is good IMO).

Only restriction they added is removed youtube from the stock FW because they don't want google riding for free on their platform, but that's irrelevant to our case.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
You don't remember:

com.amazon.tv.nimh

com.amazon.tv.settings/com.amazon.tv.settings.tv.AppDisableService

Amazon blocked per blacklist entries:

com.altusapps.firedtvlauncher

de.belu.firestarter

com.xtraordinair.onbootkodi

And in other newer firmwares you cannot intercept/replace the home button and launcher anymore and also adb uninstall -k --user 0 was blocked.

Oh yes, and the Kodi icon could not be displayed in the favorites menu any more sometime...
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
Here is the full diff excluding ODEX files:

View attachment FileList.zip
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
interesting. we are watching same show and it's butter smooth.
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
Yep, that must be an issue in combination with my philips TV. If I connect my FireTV to a Samsung TV, it works without issues. If I connect another FireTV 2 or FireTV Stick to my Philips TV it judders like this sporadically. The funny thing is that it has never happened with any other device that I had so far:

- Rasbperry Pi 1

- Raspberry Pi 2

- Odroid C2

- Banana Pi

- Rock64

- Chromecast

- FireTV Stick and my FireTV 2 Box in 2016 prior Fire OS 5.

I have read about this issue not so often, but found at least 2 other people complaining about the same issue after digging in the internet. Seems to be a very rare but terribly annoying issue.
[Fire TV Android Development] Touchpad64gb:
I'm running 5.2.6.6_r1 on rooted Firetv 2 and now it is telling there is an upgraded firmware version! It's keeps on trying to force me to upgrade and I keep on having to unplug and can't use because of the forced upgrade. Anyone else having this issue?
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
Not encountered it yet (same rom Version). You should follow these Update blocking steps and also delete Dalvik and Cache in TWRP recovery. I guess the cache contains the downloaded update and fails to install it over and over again.
[Fire TV Android Development] Touchpad64gb:
Yea I had it blocked via Router and OpenDNS....I'll try to delete Dalvik and Cache and see if it helps to stop upgrade reminder. Thanks for reply.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
adb shell su -c pm disable com.amazon.device.software.ota
adb shell su -c pm disable com.amazon.device.software.ota.override
adb shell su -c pm disable com.amazon.tv.forcedotaupdater
[Fire TV Android Development] Touchpad64gb:
If I'm correct..this calls the OTA software command, then commands it to override the ota software upgrade and the last command forces the updater to?? force (dota) updater...what does the dota stand for? Thanks for the tip by the way....appreciate it.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
sorry, here are the right commands ;)

adb shell su -c pm disable com.amazon.device.software.ota
adb shell su -c pm disable com.amazon.device.software.ota.override
adb shell su -c pm disable com.amazon.tv.forcedotaupdater

DOTA = Download over-the-air
[Fire TV Android Development] Touchpad64gb:
OK.....now I understand it with the (disable) command...LOL. Thanks again...Appreciate it!
[Fire TV Android Development] BagiMT:
I would not wipe Cache and Dalvik in TWRP. I tried that once or twice and every time I lost the Cache partition and had to go through lengthy steps to get it back.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
How do you get cache back?
[Fire TV Android Development] MicrosoftBug:
You have to shop at a store whose registers support that feature, lol. Sorry, couldn't resist.
[Fire TV Android Development] Kramar111:
/sbin/mke2fs -v -L cache -t ext4 /dev/block/mmcblk0p14
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
Thank you. What exactly is the difference if you just wipe the cache partition?
[Fire TV Android Development] Kramar111:
[MENTION=7632282]rainman74[/MENTION]

Don't know

Except TWRP using make_ext4fs, recreating /cache/recovery and copying /etc/recovery.fstab to /cache/recovery/recovery.fstab
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION] do you have a tip for us which method to recreate the cache partition on a Fire TV is the better one?`

Or you don't even need them anymore ;)
[Fire TV Android Development] BagiMT:
sorry, I missed this. From here:

https://xdaforums.com/fire-tv/development/firetv-2-recovery-t3309780

Stuck in a loop?

If you cannot boot normally and keep going back to the bootmenu, wipe Cache from Wipe -> Advanced Wipe.

If that doesn't work, ensure Cache is not mounted from in the 'Mount' menu and run this from an adb shell:

Code:

mke2fs /dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/cache
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
I have never had any issues with wiping cache and dalvik so far. If it was a general problem, then many users would have flooded this thread with hysteric bootloop and bricked reports. Have you made any custom changes to your partitions or formated them with F2FS or other non-default things?

I am clearing the cache and dalvik kind of every time I update to a new prerooted rom or downgrade to an old one and never had any issues in about 100 occasions, as far as I recall.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
After a wipe with TWRP the cache partition is there, but then after several days of operation it always remains 176.0K in size. Is this correct, or is there still a setting missing? :confused:

shell@sloane:/ $ mount
/dev/block/platform/mtk-msdc.0/by-name/cache /cache ext4 rw,seclabel,noatime,commit=1 0 0

shell@sloane:/ $ df /cache
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/cache 246.1M 176.0K 245.9M 4096
[Fire TV Android Development] BagiMT:
Interesting, no, I have not made any changes to the partitions. It happened to me several times now. I forgot about it and then maybe a months ago had some issue with some google apps and went and formatted cache dalvik and was stuck in a boot loop again. Now I am curious what the issue could be.
[Fire TV Android Development] cline2:
Any update on 5.2.6.7??
[Fire TV Android Development] tomprc:
I bricked my FireTV 2 with the latest 5.2.6.6 prerooted ROM. Does it mean I am completely out of luck because the unbrick method doesn't work on newer ROM?

I installed this prerooted 5.2.6.6 via TWRP 3.0.0.5 and they were working just fine.

Then, I was playing with the TWRP to wipe data multiple times in order to get the latest play store work following this thread. On the last time, I wiped data, system, internal storage and reboot. Boom! Bricked.

Pretty sure I didn't do anything wrong. My guess is that there is a bug in the TWRP to corrupt the partitions when I did this. Any last sort solution?
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
you still have your TWRP installed, so you should be able to load a fresh image. If you don't have rom image on your sdcard anymore, there will be one challenge - how to upload it to the FTV.

There are two options - you can hook up one of the USB hubs so that you can connect a USB stick with an image and keyboard at the same time OR you can connect ftv to a linux, mount its sdcard partition (while at TWRP screen) and copy image there. Then you can log in into TWRP and burn it.
[Fire TV Android Development] Kramar111:
[MENTION=3727394]tomprc[/MENTION]

Unbrick working fine on 5.2.6.6

[MENTION=4289187]vladm7[/MENTION]

He wipe system = TWRP doesn't work
[Fire TV Android Development] vladm7:
why is that? TWRP is installed in a different partition.
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
perhaps I'm simply missing something. I'm getting more and more curious, since [MENTION=7632282]rainman74[/MENTION] has apparently a cache problem as well.

I've checked mine now and it seems to be weird indeed:

root@sloane:/ # df
Filesystem Size Used Free Blksize
/dev 759.8M 52.0K 759.8M 4096
/dev/logd 512.0K 112.0K 400.0K 4096
/sys/fs/cgroup 759.8M 12.0K 759.8M 4096
/mnt/asec 759.8M 0.0K 759.8M 4096
/mnt/obb 759.8M 0.0K 759.8M 4096
/system 1.1G 993.3M 178.6M 4096
/data 5.6G 2.7G 2.8G 4096
/data/metrics 5.8M 204.0K 5.6M 4096
/cache 242.1M 164.0K 241.9M 4096
/mnt/sqfs 30.4M 30.4M 0.0K 32768
/mnt/shell/emulated 5.6G 2.7G 2.8G 4096

My cache partition is 242 MB in size but only 164kb used. So that means my FTV won't or cannot use the cache partition, or not? This could be one of the reasons that my ftv2 does have its hickups during playback as who knows what else is wrong with its storage and caching system. I am currently using my new Fire TV Stick 4k and it feels way more smooth etc. Really like the small thingy. Also the auto frame rate switching is such a lovely thing to see :)

Only thing that disturbs me a bit is a slight audio delay, which I will have to correct manually with my AV-Receiver.

That's the partitions of my Fire TV Stick 4k:

mantis:/ $ df
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
tmpfs 646296 676 645620 1% /dev
tmpfs 646296 0 646296 0% /mnt
/dev/block/dm-0 1074000 829876 227740 79% /system
/dev/block/dm-1 144660 38912 102728 28% /vendor
/dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/userdata 5600160 769624 4814152 14% /data
/dev/block/platform/soc/11230000.mmc/by-name/cache 507848 93896 403468 19% /cache
/dev/fuse 5600160 769624 4814152 14% /storage/emulated

Clearly it does use the cache contrary to the FireTV 2 box. Man guys... You are perhaps giving me some hints to track down the issues that bother me for more than a year now with my FTV2 box!

[MENTION=3727394]tomprc[/MENTION]

I assume that you can still boot into TWRP recovery? If that is the case, then install adblink on your computer and connect to your FTV while you are in recovery. You can then push a new prerooted rom onto your FTV2 and you can also edit your build.prop directly with adblinks file manager after mounting the /system/ partition in TWRP to block updates. I hope you can rescue your ftv2.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION] do you have any idea why your prerooted ROMS doesn't seem to use the cache partition? Is that correct, or a problem?
[Fire TV Android Development] Kramar111:
Not in our case
[Fire TV Android Development] tomprc:
No I cannot. It's stuck in the white amazon logo. Tried the USB A-A cable and it was always waiting for preload....

Are you sure? So that's why my Fire TV 2 is bricked? If that's the case, shouldn't the unsafe menu to wipe system be removed or disabled? I think most people will assume wiping system partition has nothing to do with TWRP.
[Fire TV Android Development] rbox:
I don't modify the ROM behavior. Whatever you are seeing is what Amazon provides.
[Fire TV Android Development] tomprc:
So is it true that there is no separate boot partition for TWRP?
[Fire TV Android Development] rbox:
There is a recovery partition, but TWRP doesn't get put there because of the signed bootloader.
[Fire TV Android Development] tomprc:
I see. So that means every time a new ROM is installed via TWRP, it won't format /system first? That's why I kept seeing some leftover play store and other stuff in my system even after the new ROM installed?

In my case, I formatted /system. What can I do now?
[Fire TV Android Development] rbox:
It formats /system. It then installs the entire rom, including TWRP. It does include backuptool which is used to restore things in /system if they are installed with backuptool support. Possibly that's why you're seeing things be restored.

If you format /system you have to use unbrick. If you're not on the right bootloader to allow unbrick, then it's dead. Hence this whole warning section in the TWRP thread:

WARNINGS

It is extremely important you never reboot after a failure. This will most likely lead to a brick. If recovery is hung, you can use adb shell to run

killall recovery

to restart it

It is also extremely important to never reboot after wiping /system.

If you wind up bricking, you must use the Unbrick Image to unbrick.
[Fire TV Android Development] tomprc:
Thank you rbox!

Honestly i never read warning on computer screens :)

But, even with these warnings, what if there is a power outage after system is formatted ( along with wrong bootloader) ? Sounds like an unreliable setup.
[Fire TV Android Development] tw39515:
any changes, didnt see in channelog?
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
Here we go with the next full firmware bin Fire OS 5.2.6.7 (623530020):

mPackageName='com.amazon.sloane.android.os',

mPackageVersion=623530020,

mPackageVersionName='Fire OS 5.2.6.7 (623530020)',

mRemoteUri=https://d1s31zyz7dcc2d.cloudfront.net/f0017b84d80235e33563be7d9581b7fc/update-kindle-full_sloane-36.6.2.3_user_623530020.bin

mMetadata={binaryType=full,

md5Sum=5cafcd08325892a25d2d15ab1a345a28},

mRemoteFileSize=582895695,

[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION]

Perhaps you can find again some time to wrap this new rom into a prerooted image :D

My very best regards

Edit regarding cache partition topic:

In order to capture the recent update I wiped again cache and dalvik. I observed it a bit and it is indeed quite strange that dalvik is wiped within seconds, but cache partition (which is fromatted by TWRP using "make_ext4fs") takes about 5 to 10 minutes for the wipe. And afterwards it stays at 164kb and is apparently not being used by FireOS during usage of the FireTV. Would be interesing if somebody without root (stock untouched FTV2) could check his partitions with ADB Shell "df" command.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
yes, that would be very helpful ;)
[Fire TV Android Development] Touchpad64gb:
Never mind...I figured it out...Thanks again....Looks like these commands stopped it from trying to update to Amazon's firmware even after flashing the Latest Sloan firmware.
[Fire TV Android Development] jaydee 77:
"This update appears to be adding support for the upcoming Fire TV Recast DVR through a new Live TV menu that now appears in the Fire TV’s Settings area. Also added by this update is a new Privacy Settings menu that consolidates several privacy options that already existed prior to this update, as well as adding a new option for turning off device usage data collection."

http://www.aftvnews.com/amazon-fire...-recast-dvr-support-and-new-privacy-settings/
[Fire TV Android Development] rbox:
Yup. Use an unlocked firetv 1 if it really bothers you, or a firetv 2 that the unbrick works with if it only mildly bothers you. Not much I can do about it when the bootloader is locked and I'm using super crazy workarounds for that.
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION]

Any plans about releasing an 5.2.6.7_r2 with 623530020 build? I'd really appreciate it, since I still cannot file a bug report to amazon about my playback issues as long as I am not updated to the most recent build :/.
[Fire TV Android Development] Kylum:
[MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION] or anyone that can answer this. Im a little confused about what stock firmware is rootable. If Im on stock 5.2.4.2, can I follow this guide to obtain root? On aftvnew it says that 5.2.4.2 isn’t rootable but most posts about rooting are old. Sorry if this is dumb question.

Thanks in advance
[Fire TV Android Development] rbox:
I updated the OP with 5.2.6.7_r2.
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
Oh [MENTION=3991724]rbox[/MENTION], you are simply the best! :)

Thank you so much!
[Fire TV Android Development] ryknow27:
If 5.2.4.2 was rootable, I'm sure AFTVnews would have it listed as rootable...?.
[Fire TV Android Development] Touchpad64gb:
You read correct...anything above 5.2.1.1 is not rootable for FTV v2.
[Fire TV Android Development] urbanman2004:
Hey, I was redirected to this thread from AFTV News, but I'm having a hard time finding the 'thanks' button to prevent from spamming the topic w/ such a menial comment like mine. Could anyone point me in the right direction please?

Never mind, I found it
[Fire TV Android Development] chris-89:
After updating from 5.2.6.6 to 5.2.6.7 r2, alexa didn't work anymore. Nothing happens when i press the button on the remote controll and also when i click on alexa in the fire tv settings.

Is anyone else facing this issue?
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
Yes, same here :crying:
[Fire TV Android Development] chris-89:
So what can we do now?

Wipe system and flash 5.2.6.6 or will this brick the fire tv?
[Fire TV Android Development] c3po_droid:
As far as I remember you can simply install an older pre-rooted rom from rbox over the current. All settings and everything will be preserved as if nothing happened. May be then wipe dalvik and cache, but it wouldn't even be necessary I think.
[Fire TV Android Development] rainman74:
Downgrade to 5.2.6.2 ends in a boot loop...